Dumping of sewage sludge near Phoenix outside Durban has caused air and water pollution while residents have complained about the bad smell.

The sludge dumping takes place every day at the eThekwini Water and Sanitation purification plant which lies next to Phoenix’s residential and business area.

The “mud” is collected from the Phoenix and Verulam water purification plants and kept at the site while it dries before being supplied to farmers as manure. Residents say the bad smell affects them day and night.

A team from the Mercury visited the site and saw tractors with trailers offloading the processed human waste on the open area. Waste water from the sludge pile drained into the nearby Ohlanga River, which runs down to Umhlanga Rocks beach.

Not toxic

According to the Guidelines for the Utilisation and Disposal of Wastewater Sludge, which the Phoenix site appears to be breaching, there should be 200 m between the sludge site and a water surface or borehole.

The eThekwini municipality’s head of works, Mahomed Dildar, said the sludge was processed and was not toxic. But, he said, it was illegal to allow water from the sludge to flow into the river.

“The sludge does smell, and is even worse when the weather is cold. Workers at the site should use odour control spray. We will have to look at what is happening at that site,” said Dildar.

The Mercury was alerted to the Phoenix dumping by the director of Aaliqah Waste Management, Sadhasevan Pillay. His company took the eThekwini municipality to court over the awarding of the tender to remove sludge from Verulam.

He said his company was granted the contract but was later stopped from doing the work, which was when he took the matter to the Pietermaritzburg High Court.

Pillay said the way the municipality was dumping sludge in Phoenix “clearly breached the guidelines”.

Source: iol